Reporter attacked by a group of protesters

AUGUST 8, 2006
Posted August 21, 2006

Oscar Rodríguez, Milenio

ATTACKED

Rodríguez, the Oaxaca correspondent for the Mexico City-based daily Milenio, was attacked by a group of protesters while reporting on the abduction of two police officers in the city of San Bartolo de Coyotepec.

Members of the antigovernment group Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO) took two police officers hostage after they attempted to arrest a community leader, the local press said.

When Rodríguez approached the building where the policemen were being held, a group of activists told him that they didn’t want any press, and that he should leave, the reporter said.

Rodríguez was trying to leave when he was hit on the head with a heavy object. The journalist said that a schoolteacher intervened and drove him to a nearby pharmacy where he received first aid.

Unrest has gripped Oaxaca since authorities broke up a protest by striking teachers on June 14 with tear gas. The incident sparked a broader social movement, led by the APPO, which is demanding the resignation of state governor Ulises Ruíz Ortíz.